Postgraduate Studies

Regional Knowledge

GOAL OF THE STUDIES

The studies are addressed to people with a particular interest in Silesia and the Silesian Voivodeship, who, after their completion, will acquire the necessary competences to implement the regional education program in schools and cultural institutions.

DESCRIPTION

Postgraduate Studies in Regional Knowledge are interdisciplinary: they combine issues from the following fields: linguistics, cultural studies, history, sociology, geography, geology, and nature in all regions in the Silesian Voivodeship. Lectures are held both in the University and outside of it – during attractive field classes, students gain a variety of knowledge about Silesia, Zagłębie, Żywiecczyzna, and the Częstochowa lands.

School teachers from our province receive co-financing from the Marshal’s Office of the Silesian Voivodeship. Study participants can apply for funding from local self-governments (professional development fund). Previous editions of studies witnessed great interest with over seventy students involved. Due to the agreement between the Marshal of the Silesia Voivodeship and the University of Silesia, the cost of studies was shared by the Marshal’s Office, a given commune delegating the teacher and the participant.

GRADUATE PROFILE

After completing the studies, the graduate:

• has basic knowledge of history and sociology, geography and nature, cultural and art heritage, as well as Silesian literature and ethnolect necessary to implement the regional education program
• is prepared in terms of content to conduct interdisciplinary classes in regional education (lessons of knowledge about the region, extracurricular activities), assume the role of a regional education leader at school, e.g. coordinator of the school’s regional education program, conducting trainings of the pedagogical council under the WDN, organiser of regional events, e.g. Silesian Days, knowledge competitions about the region, recitation competitions in the Silesian ethnolect, etc.
• has the knowledge and skills to conduct regional education as part of pedagogical innovation, e.g. original regional classes, regional programs, etc.
• having an additional regional speciality, they are able to work in several schools as a specialist in regional education
• is equipped with the ability to use effective and attractive methods and forms of education acquired during academic classes, as well as during field classes; in the course of field classes, students are offered exercises that they can later use in their work with students, participants visit interesting places and meet people who are the source of knowledge about the region – they can use the acquired knowledge and competencies in work with students, develop class scenarios that are part of the final work .

CURRICULUM

Lectures are conducted in the university building and outside (field classes). They are divided into five thematic modules:

1. Languages and dialects in the Silesian Voivodeship
2. Cultural heritage
3. Art in the region, Literature, Film, Theater
4. Historical and sociological conditions of the region
5. Formation of the region. Geography and nature.

The lectures concern issues related to the Silesian Voivodeship with an emphasis on its diversity. As part of the field classes, the students will get to know, inter alia, the architecture of the region, the specificity of painting, features of the ethnolect of the middle Upper Silesia through contact with words in use (e.g. a theater show), as well as the southern part (e.g. exploring Silesian Cieszyn, divided Cieszyn, towns in Beskidy Mountains region) and the northern part of the Silesian Voivodeship (e.g. workshops in Koszęcin, Częstochowa, Lelów), the specificity of the flora and fauna of the region, nature reserves, landscape parks (e.g. Buków Reserve in Murcki, GEOsfera in Jaworzno), characteristic elements of the mountain landscape, Industrial Monuments Route, heritage of great Silesian families (lecture at the Castle Museum in Pszczyna), the history of the Żywiec Region, the history of the Silesian Uprisings (Museum of the Silesian Uprisings in Świętochłowice). Participants will also learn about the regional theater, music and literary offer during meetings with artists for whom the local tradition becomes an artistic material (including Alojzy Lyska, Marcin Melon, theater creators).

LECTURERS

Classes are conducted by a staff of research and teaching employees of the University of Silesia in Katowice, including:

• Prof. Jolanta Tambor (University of Silesia in Katowice) – Head of Postgraduate Studies in Regional Knowledge, Director of the School of Polish Language and Culture. Her research interests are: phonetics and phonology of the contemporary Polish language, phonetics and grammar in teaching foreigners; Silesia – from various perspectives: dialectological, sociolinguistic, but also sociological, cultural and political; glottodidactics; multilingualism and multiculturalism.
• Prof. Ryszard Kaczmarek (University of Silesia in Katowice) – Deputy Director of the Library of the University of Silesia for Institute of Regional Research, his main research interests: history of Poland in the twentieth century, history of Germany in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, history of Silesia.
• Prof. Joanna Rostropowicz (University of Opole) – classical philologist, popularizing Silesia and Silesians for years and in many ways. Author of the encyclopedia Silesians from the earliest times to the present day.
• Prof. Aldona Skudrzyk (University of Silesia in Katowice) – her research interests focus on various sociolinguistic, pragmatic, and stylistic aspects of the diversity of the contemporary Polish language.
• Prof. Ewa Sławek (University of Silesia in Katowice) – her interests and research focus on the following thematic areas: stylistics (with particular emphasis on the linguistic and cultural aspects of artistic style); contemporary translation studies (in its theoretical and practical dimensions), problems of language and style of the regional language, ethno pragmatics and intercultural communication.
• Prof. Marek Szczepański (University of Silesia in Katowice) – the main scientific interests are: sociology of the region and local communities, city and area, changes and social development, and sociology of social and ethnic conflicts, issues of identity and sociology of regions, especially Upper Silesia.
• Prof. Grażyna Szewczyk (University of Silesia in Katowice, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw) – a Germanist, Polish philologist, Scandinavian scholar, researcher of 19th and 20th century German literature, including literature in Upper Silesia.
• Prof. Aleksandra Achtelik, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor (University of Silesia in Katowice ) – Deputy Director of the School of Polish Language and Culture. Her scientific interests and undertaken research topics focus on the issues of history and theory of culture, travel literature with particular emphasis on Italian themes in Polish literature and the problems of the city, teaching Polish culture to foreigners and selected issues of glottodidactics.
• Romuald Cudak, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor (University of Silesia in Katowice ) – his research interests focus on the following areas and issues: contemporary Polish poetry, genology, social communication, literary text theory, theory of reception and perception, glottodidactics, literary education among foreigners, computer aided teaching of Polish as a foreign language.
• Łukasz Depa, PhD, DSc, Associate Professor (University of Silesia in Katowice ) – his scientific interests are the evolutionary aspects of aphid ecology (Hemiptera, Aphididae) with particular emphasis on the role of mutualistic relationship with ants in the process of evolution and adaptive radiation of aphids, taxonomy and phylogenetics of aphids (Hemiptera, Aphididae), taking into account the results of research using molecular markers and morphometric features, biodiversity, phylogeography and ecology of aphids (Hemiptera, Aphididae).
• Renata Dulias, PhD, DSc, Associate Professor (University of Silesia in Katowice ) – geographer, geomorphologist, author of works in the field of regional geography, anthropogenic and aeolian geomorphology. Thanks to many years of experience in field research conducted in the Silesian-Krakow Upland, she is an expert in the field of geography of this region.
• Maciej Fic, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor (University of Silesia in Katowice ) – historian, his research interests focus on the socio-political history of Poland in the 20th century (with particular emphasis on Upper Silesia), the issues of teaching-learning history and knowledge about society, and the history of culture, education and science.
• Zbigniew Kadłubek, PhD, DLitt, (University of Silesia in Katowice) – Director of the Silesian Library in Katowice, classical philologist, comparatist, essayist. He is the author of, among others, sketches and books about the ancient and contemporary culture of Silesia, as well as a selection of essays Święta Medea (nominated for the Gdynia Literary Award 2011), essays written in Silesia and translations of classical dramas into Silesia.
• Tomasz Nawrocki, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor (University of Silesia in Katowice) – a sociologist of the city, he has been conducting research on Silesian cities for many years.
• Adam Hibszer, PhD, DSc, (University of Silesia in Katowice) – in his research and educational work he deals with regional education and issues related to the relationship between humans and the natural environment.
• Magdalena Piotrowska-Grot, PhD, (University of Silesia in Katowice) – deals with contemporary Polish poetry – poetic manifestations of post-secularism, the category of privacy, the identity of the subject in the context of the revolution and the retroactive nature of human existence in the world.
• Grzegorz Kulik – a Silesian translator (including Szczepan Twardoch’s Morphine) and a promoter of the Silesian region, blogger and youtuber, laureate of the Fr. Augustin Weltzl “Upper Silesian Tacitus” Award. Author of the Silesian speech corpus.

ORGANISATION

Duration:
Number of semesters: 2
Number of hours: 200 hours

Organisation of classes:
The classes take place on Fridays (3 p.m. – 6 p.m.) and Saturdays (9.45 p.m. – 4.30 p.m.), usually every two weeks.

Graduation criteria:
In order to complete postgraduate studies, a student must prepare a final work – lesson/class outline with description and presentation, using the knowledge gained during the classes, a multimedia presentation about this lesson.

Graduation document:
Postgraduate diploma issued by the University of Silesia in Katowice.

ADMISSION PROCESS

Candidates
The studies are addressed to people (especially teachers) who are particularly interested in Silesia and the Silesian Voivodeship – who, after the completion of the studies, will acquire the necessary competencies to implement the regional education program in schools and cultural institutions.

Important!
Teachers working in schools in the Silesian Voivodeship may receive funding from the Marshal’s Office of the Silesian Voivodeship. Teachers who would like to benefit from funding from the Marshal’s Office and the commune, please contact the unit responsible for running schools and educational institutions in the commune, asking if the commune is able to accept financial aid from the Marshal’s Office and provide us with this information along with the documents required for admission to postgraduate studies.

Admission process:
Apply online
Electronic admission process in Online Application System (IRK) on the dates specified in Online Application System (IRK). Choose and proceed according to the instructions.

Admission criteria:
Candidates are admitted to studies according to the registration order and the result of the admission procedure (if it was conducted).

Planned date of beginning of classes: October/February

FEES

After being admitted to postgraduate studies, you may start your studies, subject to paying the fee for postgraduate studies. Payments should be made to the student’s individual account, within the deadlines specified in the agreement.

CONTACT

Head of Postgraduate Studies
Prof. Jolanta Tambor
Tel. 32 200 94 24
e-mail: jolanta.tambor@us.edu.pl

Secretary Office
Tomasz Gęsina, PhD
tel. 32 200 94 24, 32 251 29 91
e-mail: tomasz.gesina@us.edu.pl
Krystian Węgrzynek, PhD
e-mail: kwegrzynek@us.edu.pl

Financial matters
Karolina Graboń
Tel. 32 200 94 24
e-mail: karolina.grabon@us.edu.pl

Faculty of Humanities
University of Silesia in Katowice
40-007 Katowice
ul. Uniwersytecka 4
room no. A06, A07
Tel. 32 2009 424
regionpodyplomowe@gmail.com